Page:West Irish folk-tales and romances - William Larminie.djvu/119

 Rh from, there is royal blood in them.” The king had no child but one little girl.

“Give me the children. I will give them better care than you. I will support yourself and your old woman as long as you are alive.”

He could not refuse. The king took the children with him. He cared for them till they grew to be young men. The king's daughter thought they were her brothers. The king put learning on them. They were the two champions. They were fowling every day that was fine. At that time there was a great hurling match to come off. The King of Lochlann sent a challenge to the King of Greece for a hurling match, kingdom to be staked against kingdom. There was a pretty strand under the court and castle of the King of Greece. When the day of the hurling match came, the King of Greece ordered the two champions to go hunting. They went hunting. They were not long gone from the house when they met five young men, every one of them with a hurling stick. “I don't know where they can be going,” said the champion of the red belt.

“I don't know,” said the champion of the black belt. They saw five others coming the same way. He said to one of them he wondered where they were going. “I will tell you; and it is a great wonder that you are going fowling to-day.”